Indian National Defence University to get land near Gurgaon

New Delhi, Feb 19 (IANS) In limbo for nine years, the project of setting up the Indian Nation Defence University (INDU) has got a fresh impetus as the government has zeroed in on Binola village near Gurgaon in Haryana as the location for the institution, the minister of state for defence said. The Prime Minister’s Office has approved the acquisition of the land at Binola village, near Gurgaon, along national highway number 8 at the earliest for setting up the university, which will institutionalise strategic thinking in the country.

“Haryana government will be acquiring the land under the emergency clause. Setting up of such a university at Gurgaon will make it a hub of academic, strategic and professional expertise in defence preparedness,” Minister of State for Defence Production Rao Inderjit Singh told IANS Wednesday.

India will become the third country in the world after the US and China to have such an institution. An empowered group of ministers, while reviewing the report of a committee that examined the 1999 Kargil conflict with Pakistan, had also reviewed the entire spectrum of defence and security management and recommended in 2000 the setting up of the INDU.

“The university will allow to put all the existing think tanks, National Defence Colleges and academies together,” Singh added.

INDU will be a fully autonomous institution under an act of parliament and will run courses for officers of the armed forces, civil services and paramilitary forces. The existing national defence colleges and academies will be affiliated to it.

“The defence ministry will be releasing Rs.100 crore (Rs.1 billion) for the land acquisition,” the minister said.